Agenda - Economic Development Authority - 04/13/2017

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Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Steffen, Members Riley, Hardin, Brunt, Burandt, and Williams. Voting No: None. Absent: Skaff. 4. EDA BUSINESS 4.01: Informational Interview Oppidan Development Economic Dev. Mgr/Assistant City Administrator Brama stated this case is a follow up to the EDA's ongoing discussion RE marketing strategies for The COR, and the sale of City-owned land. He presented the staff report. Mr. Drew Johnson, Manager of Commercial Development for Oppidan Development reviewed his background and the history and previous projects Oppidan Development has done with the Board. He stated Oppidan Development is mainly merchant developers, they sell ninety percent of the projects they do, they do not have a portfolio. Mr. Johnson reviewed a six-acre site they are developing in Minneapolis. Chairperson Steffen asked if Oppidan Development owns the site on the current project they are working on in Minneapolis. Mr. Johnson stated they do own the site but they usually do not own a site until they are ready to break ground. He stated this project is A-typical in the nature of it. Chairperson Steffen asked what is the general perception of The COR and what are the strength and weaknesses. Mr. Johnson stated knowing how hard and expensive mixed use has been and is to do, he thought Ramsey was doing pretty well in terms of what has been done so far and also knowing how expensive market rate housing is to build. He stated from the center of where the money is flowing, Ramsey is pretty far out and suburban housing is challenging and hard and when looking at some of the other large projects that have gone on has been pretty big with city subsidies and free land, TIFF's and things that have been done to make that happen, he thought that was a huge barrier of entry for how big the COR is and how much Ramsey has so far, he thought they have been doing pretty well. There is a lot of communities in the same spot where they want to remake an area and do a downtown. Member Riley asked what Mr. Johnson thought of vertically integrated building, which he thought Ramsey had a little bit already and a lot more of that in the plan. Mr. Johnson thought it was hard because on a large scale format to do well, if they have a footprint that is going to handle 100 residential units and enough underground parking where it is efficient to build, where the project needs a large project to do that because of some of the costs. He stated if the expectation of the ground floor will be a lot of retail, for a less dense area like Ramsey, that is a huge challenge. He thought a reasonable expectation, may be the best corner could have some support style retail uses. Economic Development Authority/March 9, 2017 Page 2 of 12